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It’s Juneteenth! This holiday symbolizes an important moment in our nation’s history. We should use this time each year to reflect, honor, celebrate, and recommit to racial equity. We praise the 2021 federal legislation that made Juneteenth a national holiday, but at the same time, we must condemn the 2022 state legislation that forbids teaching why it’s a national holiday.
Our young learners need to understand that Juneteenth is more than just a holiday that celebrates the end of slavery in the U.S. Our students need to understand how the Black experience is far different from the white experience in our country and also different from the Black experience in other countries.
Our schools teach about slavery and its abolition but seldom do they have meaningful discussions about the backlash: the Black Codes, Jim Crow Laws, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Tulsa Massacre. We deprive students of an education that includes important American historical events like the somber location of the National Civil Rights Museum, how students had a major impact on the civil rights movement, the wild history of Black cowboys, James McCune Smith’s journey to becoming the first Black doctor in the U.S., and on and on and on. Black history is a rich history that speaks directly and truthfully about the American experience.
This is a hard truth we must face head-on: writing our history from the white person’s lens while at the same time devaluing Black history is a form of both institutional racism and white supremacy.
Our k-12 schools are where Black history lessons need to start, but our colleges and universities have a vital role in expanding our nation’s social consciousness. Those institutions will produce our future leaders and educators. We love seeing the University of Chicago’s Juneteenth campus events and Boston University’s photo essay chronicling what Juneteenth means to the BU community.
In the workforce, we see more institutions making Juneteenth a paid holiday. That’s a great start! Also, institutions of all types can showcase Black history and art in their lobbies and workplaces. Businesses and schools can hire Black-owned restaurants for workplace events, share lists of local Black-owned businesses with students and colleagues, and invite Black-owned retailers to sell their goods on campus or at an event the institution sponsors.
Here’s a short list of what you can do to elevate the Juneteenth holiday.
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